Boards

Wreck-It Ralph - An absolute joy. Bloody loved it. Inventive, funny, heartwarming, all the things I expect from a Pixar film but without any involvement from Pixar. Loads of little easter eggs for video game fans too, it was great fun and I can't wait till my niece and nephew are old enough to watch it with them.

The Class of 92 - Difficult to judge impartially but I genuinely think it would be a great watch even if you're not a Utd/Football fan. I went with Arsenal and Spurs supporting dogs and they both enjoyed it a lot as well. It's the perfect example of why sport trumps anything else on the planet for stories and emotion and passion. An unprecedented story told from by bunch of mates who lived it. Paul Scholes steals the show with his unbelievably dry humour and disdain for the very nature of interviews, Phil Neville is surprisingly serious and seems like a lovely man, great #bants from the rest of them as well. It made me pine for an unfortunately bygone era even though it's still relatively recent. Seriously, see it even if you don't like football, it will make you see what all the fuss is about.

I'll be home for Christmas - a heart warming coming of age film on channel 5, midday sunday. stars jonathan taylor thomas and jessica biel. BF & GF struggle to get home for christmas and fall out on the way, similar to planes trains and automobiles, but without any comedy or any redeeming good qualities
alpha papa - was alright, funny in places
the new superman - watched half hour, looked dreadful, glad I got a phonecall to go see a man about a dog

Found it fairly gripping and fun. Would have been a lot better had the second half of the film been a bit more distinguishable from the same section in the first film though. This was a much better film than the first however.

That island was a complete arse. "Oh so you escaped the poisonous fog, well how do you like these ILL-TEMPERED KILLER BABOONS?!" I think both films do really well to convey the hopeless fear of the situation, if I were there I'd almost immediately resign to death, I wouldn't even bother trying.

third viewing. It's still a mess, and falls well short of Gilliam's high points as a director, but on subsequent viewings there's a lot of positives to take out of it, some big ideas and a lot of heart buried beneath the ropey CGI. I just wish they'd taken more time to define the meaning behind the 'imaginarium' itself, or the history of the Doctor, as it's very easy to just dismiss it as a cacophonous, incoherent rehash of his more successful work (which it kind of is) instead of trying to engage it directly. It could have been a fascinating companion to both Baron Munchausen and The Fisher King with a steadier hand behind the screenplay.

was pretty good. don't think I laughed as much as in the cinema though.

I also watched Apollo 13 up until the last half hour or so cos that Charlie Brooker games programme was on, and all but the first half hour or so of The Mask cos it was on sky 1 and I had nothing better to do.

but the only big laugh it got from me was Nick Frost punching the tiny window out of a pub door. I get what they were going for, a kind of more melancholic, early middle age look at how the promise of youth fades and settles in to a compromised rut, I'm just not sure that a knockabout comedic riff on sci-fi movie tropes is really the ideal forum for it. It's like they worked so hard on making sure that the intricate, self referential plot worked that they forgot that they're at their best when they're throwing silly jokes and asides around within that framework. Long winded way of saying it's not funny enough, for me. And I still really love the earlier films.

Star Trek into Darkness - between relentless action, a funny script and great performances from Syler and Cabbagepatch Bumbclart it keeps it 4 stars. Kirk is also less of a douchebag than the last one although his upper lip still irritates me.

NEMESIS
which was amazing - a 1992 low budget film about a rouge cyborg with some terrible acting, some great hammy performances, some tits, lots and lots of guns and stuff, and a script that makes little sense.
manages to crow bar in the cyborg going off to Thailand or somewhere to try to appeal to the jean claude van damn fans or something, heavily rips off terminator (i'm the main (austrian?) guy says - 'I WILL BE COMING BACK' or something like that at somepoint)
god knows why it's called nemesis

for the second time. Really good study about work and life and passion all blurring into the same thing.

Cider House Rules
Very strange film of a really good book. Michael Caine's accent almost ruins it single-handedly. They take out all the interesting sub-plots and smaller characters. Probably wouldn't have worked with them in but doesn't stop it from being worse thanks to that.

I Give It a Year - which seemed to have worked back from the 'hilarious' premise of a man asking his wife if "you'll not be my wife", and it being really romantic and not sad. the odd funny moment, but characters are ill-defined/change, and Rose Byrne is saddled with being a bitch.
The Debt - Very decent. Takes a bit to get going but Jessica Chastain is excellent as usual. Didn't get much love on release, but it's a solid thriller, intriguingly structured.
Kings of Summer - Boys' own, coming of age story. Beautifully shot. Reminded me of Mud; a lighter, less 'serious' version. Ticks all the beats you expect but still manages fresh moments. Lacked... something.

World War Z - terrible. not even a good zombie film, let alone a worthwhile adaption of a book I really like. the last act, in particular, when they're running around the Welsh Valleys - I understand this was what held the film up, that it was shot months after filming originally wrapped. It was still terrible, and made no sense.

Safety Not Guaranteed - WONDERFUL. So happy this popped up on Netflix. Aubrey Plaza + Nick from New Girl + plot about time travel. Lovely lovely stuff.

From Up on Poppy Hill - not the best Ghibli, not the worst, if nothing else much better than Miyazaki Jnr's last film. beautifully animated as you'd expect, and it's nice to see them doing something grounded in reality. nobody can make Japanese towns look as idyllic as Ghibli.

The Place Beyond the Pines - Quite good, Bradley Cooper's actually really good when he's not being foppy perfume advert man (Grey's Anatomy) or A Twat (The Hangover). The young actors at the end were a bit pants (particularly the one who was 17 but looked about 30) and I'm not entirely sure what Ryan Gosling is for.

Blue Valentine - Because it was on Lovefilm and the trailer looked good on the Place Beyond the Pines DVD. Not as good as Place Beyond the Pines. Still not entirely sure what Ryan Gosling is for.

Gravity - Second time, this time in normal 3D and not fancy IMAX 3D. Still really enjoyed it, but 3D is really stupid.